9 Key Tasks For Successful Social Interactivity Marketing Implementation

Implementing a social interactivity marketing strategy is a key for success for an organization’s online social media strategy.  Whether the organization is adding social media features to its existing ecommerce website, or incorporating ecommerce functionality within the social media sites, or both, there are 9 key tasks that every organization should complete to ensure the successful implementation of a social interactivity marketing strategy.

Rome Wasn’t Built in One Day: Same with the World Wide Web

Implementation of social media for an organization can often times be a very complicated and time-consuming process.  Often times organizations spend time trying to come up with the correct social media strategy and online balance for their organization but never become successful with the implementation process because they fail to set realistic and meaningful goals.  By setting goals, it allows for an organization to work through the steps needed to reach those goals.  When organizations tend to rush into the implementation process without first analyzing their goals, they tend to fail.  The following steps need to be done if an organization wishes to be successful in implementing social media strategies and online activities.

(Image by Theunixgeek [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The Importance of Content Management

Inbound Marketing Drives Increase in Content

What is content? Dictionary.com states that content is “the subject or topic covered in a book/document, or something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing, or any of various arts.”

Academia and Social Media

With the ubiquity of the Internet, universities have experienced many changes.  The opportunity for faculty and students to take classes, share ideas and opinions, perform research, etc., are endless.  One big change the universities have experienced has been the use of social media.  One challenge they face with social media is guarding their reputation.

(The image is of the McGregor Conference Center - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGregor_Memorial_Conference_Center)

Are you willing to go “Unplugged”?

Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media outlets are everywhere you turn. Of the individuals who are on the internet, 27% of the time spent online is on social networking tools. (Source: Experian). However, I am an individual that spends my time in the 73% of the other categories.

(The image is in the public domain - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tangled_leads.JPG#filelinks )

Consumer Data Analytics and Improving Conversion Rates

Let’s focus on three main things a company can do today to improve their marketing team’s capabilities and also improve their prospect-to-customer conversion rates.

(Measure/Analyze image by Muhammad Rafizeldi (Google+, Blog ) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Web_Analytics_and_Measurement-analysis.png )

In the world of business, social media is taking a larger and larger role in the day to day function of the organizations that use them.  Ten years ago, the concept of a “social media” specific employee was unheard of; today unpaid internships in this arena are common place.  While the speed and reach of social media outlets are unmatched in the world of advertisements ability to reach targeted demographics, there are detractors to the social media market that can adversely affect a business. 

There are several concerns that should be addressed by the company when using social media sites.  These concerns include:

• What the organization's social media policy should be when employees are using the sites?
• How to manage the online reputation of the company? 
• How to protect the privacy of the company, the employees, and the visitors to the sites? 
• Other ethical considerations that may arise.

(The gold seal image is by Jossifresco (Own work) [released into the Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGold_seal_policy_v4.svg )

(All accolades and credit for this tremendous blog post are for Ibrahim Fares who is the author and content creator.  Thanks Ibrahiim for this case study!)

Delta and LinkedIn Join Forces to Create Innovation Class

It is a known fact that business people spend a lot of time flying for business.  First class is often call “business class.”  However, there’s a new section of seating on select Delta flights called the Innovation Class and it will likely attract many business people. The innovation class is a mentoring program at 35,000 feet in the air. The first Delta innovation class flight was taken by Eric Migicovsky, who is the creator of Pebble Smartwatch. He understood that sometimes your schedule can become overwhelming and you have very little free time. In fact, he created the Pebble smartwatch to save time so he could see what was happening on his phone without taking it out of his pocket. Migicovsky loves to talk to people and share his perspectives. Migicovsky met with James Patton to discuss their love of technology. Had they met in person, they probably would have spoke for no more than five minutes but because they were sitting in innovation class, they had three hours to discuss. This is a corporate social media match made in the sky.

Does Social Media Really Matter To Every Company?

We live in a world these days where most companies are focused on increasing their Twitter and Facebook followers.  While having meaningful social media goals is a great tactic for some, not all organizations are built to be socially awesome, or to grow conversions through social media.

(This images is by Alexander van Dijk [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons - Also, David Armano at http://darmano.typepad.com/)

Alumni Profile

Sherrie Weitzman, National Advertising Manager, Cadillac

Tell us about your first real job out of college.  What was the position?  How did you get your start?

I actually received my undergraduate degree in education, so I was a substitute teacher for a year.  By the time I received my MBA from Wayne State University, I was gainfully employed at D’Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles – one of the leading international agencies at the time, with a big office in suburban Detroit, servicing the Pontiac and Cadillac accounts for General Motors.  I actually knew someone who knew someone who worked at DMB&B who got me an interview with the research group.  So, my first “real job” was a research analyst.  A good place to learn a lot and stay under the radar while learning.  But within a year, I rose up a floor, and up the ladder to Account Executive on the NBD (National Bank of Detroit) account.

Alumni Profile

An Interview with ... Brooke Cowell, Marketing Manager at Ducker Worldwide

Tell us about your first real job out of college. What was the position? How did you get your start?

I started my career right out of college as Business Development and Marketing Manager at Chief Financial Credit Union.  During my senior year at Adrian College I became very frustrated as all of my friends were finding jobs with well-known companies and I was struggling to find the right fit, ultimately I found my position through networking.  This was my first experience in realizing how important networking and building relationships truly was. 

The Unforgiving Internet

The internet has changed the way a business operates today.  The internet has the potential to make or break a company’s image.  I call it a dual-edged sword.  The internet enables a company to reach millions of users immediately and offer their products/services.  At the same time, the very same tool can be equally destructive for the company’s image to the extent that it leaves an everlasting impression on the consumer's mind. 

(The image by Roadside Guitars (Flickr: ES-333 on Bench (2)) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Marketing Detroit

Detroit, ohhh Detroit.  The national business community cowers at the idea of doing business in Detroit.  Especially the banks.  I was on the phone with a mortgage broker excited to speak about a mortgage refinance in the Central Business District of Detroit.  As we were going through the parameters of the deal, I shared with him where the building is located.  He says “Detroit?  I am sorry to hear that, most lenders will not go into Detroit.”  I stopped him while he was ranting about why.  I asked, “Have you ever been here?  Do you know what’s going on here?” 

“Have you ever been here?  Do you know what’s going on here?”

(This work has been released into the public domain by its author.)

Do I or Don’t I?

Going back to college after 50

When I began working at a university 4 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be going back to school.  The thought never even entered my mind.  When the talk in my office turned to school, my thoughts were often, “I’m too old,” “What is more education going to do for me at my age,” “How can I compete with the younger crowd?” All really good arguments, right?

After I made the decision to go back to school, I actually found out I was not much different than most of the other students in my classes.  Most of us hold full-time jobs and attend school only part-time.  Most of us wanted to better ourselves in our current positions.

(Portrait of Joseph Martin Kraus as a student at Erfurt university.  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. This photographic reproduction is therefore considered to be in the public domain.)